The present invention relates to electronic messaging systems. In particular, the present invention relates to multimedia message collaboration.
In addition to electronic mail (e-mail) and voice mail, today""s electronic messaging systems may also include multimedia messages. A multimedia message is typically a message that includes more than one media. For example, a multimedia message may include text, video, audio, and images such as graphs and charts. In a multimedia messaging system, the ability to exchange e-mails, voicemails, faxes, images and video is part of a basic multimedia system. Examples of multimedia messaging systems include ViewMail, Phone Max, Repartee, and View Call Plus, all by Active Voice.
A sender may send a multimedia message to numerous recipients, several of whom may wish to make comments or revisions to the multimedia message. For example, a sender may send a multimedia message of a proposed presentation for a company. Some of the recipients of the message may wish to comment or revise portions of the message. Typically, if recipient A makes a comment or a revision to the message, recipient A would return the commented or revised message back to the sender. For example, assume an incorrect statement is made in the message and recipient A corrected the statement and returned it to the sender. In the meantime, recipients B through Z may also have noticed that the statement was incorrect, and most of them may correct the statement and return the corrected statement to the sender. Since recipients A-Z would each review the message in their own time, the sender may receive multiple comments regarding the same incorrect statement over a period of days.
Alternatively, a recipient of the multimedia message may feel compelled to forward his comments to all the recipients and sender for discussion and agreement. All responses to those comments are also likely to be sent to recipients and sender. Accordingly, it is likely that all recipients and sender have multiple messages with regard to the same issue. The cumulative time lost on the matter of a single message may be substantial.
It would be desirable to have a multimedia messaging system which collaborates comments and revisions while minimizing time wasted reading obsolete messages. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and method for multimedia messaging system collaboration. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sender sends a message to multiple recipients. A recipient wishing to make a comment or insert changes to the message submits his comments to a moderator for approval. If the moderator approves of the changes, then the changes are automatically incorporated into the message. The original message is then automatically recalled from recipients who have not yet opened the message and a revised message is automatically sent to those whose messages were recalled. Additionally, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a message is automatically sent to those recipients who have already opened the original message to indicate the change to the original message and update those recipients.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a vote may also be called to determine whether a revision of the message should be accepted. If the vote accepts the change, then the revisions are automatically incorporated into the message and recipients who have not yet opened then original message will automatically have their original message recalled and automatically have an updated version of the message sent to them.
According to an embodiment of the invention, a method for collaboration of an electronic message is presented. The method includes receiving a proposal associated with an issued electronic message and determining whether the proposal is approved. The method also automatically recalls the electronic message from a recipient who has not yet opened the electronic message, wherein the automatic recalling of the electronic message is performed if the proposal is approved.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a system for collaboration of an electronic message. The system includes a network interface configured to receive a proposal associated with an issued electronic message and a user interface configured to receive an instruction on whether the proposal is approved. The system also includes a processor coupled with the network interface, wherein the processor is configured to automatically recall the electronic message from a recipient who has not yet opened the electronic message if the proposal is approved.